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Watersheds and People
How do you fit into your watershed?
Wherever you live in North Dakota you are in a watershed. Your watershed may be
covered with towns, industrial areas, or farmland. Any excess nutrients,
sediments, and pollutants in your watershed are carried by runoff to surface
waters.
You and the other people who live in the watershed potentially influence the
water quality in nearby streams and lakes depending on how careful your are in
your day-to-day activities.
Understanding that actions on land affect water quality should lead you to
cast a critical eye on many
common activities such as, gardening, lawn care, automobile maintenance,
farming, and ranching. These and many other activities can contribute excess
nutrients, sediment, and pollutants to the surface waters in your watershed.
What are the results of human activity in your
watershed?
The by-products of our activities can degrade nearby waters when
we’re not careful. Excess nutrients increase algae and weed growth. Sediments
carry nutrients and cloud the receiving water, making the water less pleasant
for recreation. Pollutants carried from the watershed can harm fish populations
and plant life in lakes and streams. In some situations, these pollutants
contaminate well water and other drinking water sources.
What can you do for your watershed?
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Minimize erosion by adopting practices that slow the flow
of water over your property.
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Reduce excess nutrients that could wash off your land.
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Collect waste oil and other automotive wastes to be recycled, rather than
letting them run on to the ground.
What Practices Reduce Runoff?
In rural areas you can:
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Practice contour farming.
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Use conservation tillage.
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Practice crop rotation.
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Install grassed waterways.
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Plant filter strips around feedlots.
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Retire highly erodible land.
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Practice sound pesticide and fertilizer use.
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Delay tilling and fertilizing until spring.
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Recycle agri-chemical containers.
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Construct diversion dikes or channels around feedlots.
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Recycle fluids from vehicle and machinery.
In urban areas you can:
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Maintain plant cover to reduce runoff.
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Mulch gardens and exposed soil.
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Terrace land to slow runoff.
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Direct runoff to areas where it will soak into the soil.
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Minimize pavement and impermeable surfaces.
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Minimize soil disturbance at construction sites.
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Maintain septic systems.
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Use low- or no-phosphate soaps.
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Recycle automotive fluids.
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